As a freelancer, there is a world of opportunity available to you over the World Wide Web, and there are a variety of different jobs you can do. While many books on this subject would take the time to list many of the jobs you can perform, we will stay away from that simply because technology is moving so fast that what is in vogue today may not be tomorrow. The key rule of thumb to keep in mind is that you will want to aim for a highly lucrative field that involves the manipulation of information via the Internet.
These jobs are easy to find, a little bit of research on the Internet can go a long way towards giving you ideas for fields you will want to gain skills in. It is best to let your imagination and creativity go to work. However, you will want to avoid the many “get rich quick” gimmicks that you will inevitably come across during your research. I was recently reading an article the other day about the online employment industry and how, due to the economy, more people were looking to the Internet as a way to generate money.
While the article was absolutely right in saying this, it then recommended a “program” which would allow people to make exorbitant amounts of money. In the comments area of the website, people were posting about how exciting the idea sounded, even though the author never went into details as to how it works. Our rule of thumb is to stay away from these programs. They often have a hidden cost involved with them that you won't know about until it is too late, and as the old saying goes, “if it is too good to be true, it probably is.” Any advertisement promising that you can make $500 per day at home without hardly any effort is in all likelihood a scam.
While it is possible to make $500 per day via the Internet and much more, you will not find out how to achieve this through some program sold by someone else, when you buy the program you are only guaranteed that the owner of it gets paid while you may get nothing worthwhile in return. The stone cold truth is that success comes from knowledge and hard work, and anyone who tries to show you a “short cut” to riches is going to rob you blind. While the Internet is the land of opportunity, it can be a very dangerous place for dummies who fail to take this advice to heart.
Many of the programs I'm referring to at this point are Multi-level Marking schemes and HYIP (High Yield Investment Programs). In almost 99% of all cases, these programs are fraudulent. They sucker in lazy people with no discipline looking for a generic financial solution to their problems. While light may take the path of least resistance, those who attempt to do so over the Internet when it comes to making money are often in for a rude awakening.
The things on the net which are going to make you money are those lucrative skills which will take months of intense study and discipline to develop. Once you develop these skills, you will be ready to enter the workplace and make big bucks, but this is the primary thing you must focus on, that is, developing the skills which are required. We recommend doing hours of research on a variety of different jobs available on the Internet to determine which areas you are interested in. Compare the earnings and look at both the pros and cons of this field, because all fields have them.
One thing that is important to remember is that riches will rarely come through some special advertised program, they will only come through hard work, discipline, and intuition. Few rich people will give out their secrets, and the reason for this is simply because they do not want any competition. Therefore, when you see some late night infomercial promising you untold riches if you buy their program, you can be rest assured that such programs are ineffective at best, or totally fraudulent at worse. If you're like many people, you've probably heard the quote which says “its not what you know, its who you know.” Unfortunately, this quote is only a half truth. While it is true that knowing the right people can open many doors, the reality is that in most cases, the people who have the knowledge, tools, or connections you need will be unwilling to share with you unless you can offer them something in return.
In other words, a better quote would be to say that “its you know AND who you know that counts.” The reason I say this is because in life, you will need allies. No matter how smart or talented you are, there is a limit to how much you can accomplish alone. To become truly rich, you will need to form alliances with people who can help you reach your goals, but the thing to remember is that the most powerful alliances are always based on mutual necessity. Mutual necessity means that you need to bring something to the table in order for people to form alliances with you, and if you have nothing to offer, then you will get nothing in return.
This is why it is critical to develop skills that are high in demand. Once you have the proper skills, you can use these skills as a form of leverage which will then give you the ability to create a network of clients and allies. However, an extremely lucrative possibility, one which I will be talking about more in later chapters, is the ability to form deep alliances with your clients, where you are able to gain access to things which will put you even closer to reaching your goals. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of creating strong alliances, and a network of clients is the most importance alliance you can build.
Even those who are highly skilled often fail to become rich because they are unable to leverage these skills in a manner which allows them to build long term wealth. A general rule of thumb to remember is that no matter how rich or successful a person may be, everyone needs something, and every person on this planet has insecurities. If you're able to offer them what they need, you can position yourself in a way that brings about great power.
Not only is it wise to pick skills which are high in demand, it is also important to pick skills which you are naturally good at. You don't want to pick skills which are too difficult for you to master, and you may waste time and energy and end up giving up. Even if you do master the skill, you may find that you are miserable when working in the field. The Information Age is still relatively new, and those who understand the times they are living in, and who can adapt to these times, will be in a position to reap numerous financial rewards.
At the same time, it is dangerous to rely too much on technology. Technology must always be seen as a tool, as opposed to a means to an end within itself. The services which you bring to the market as a freelancer will be a derivative, a derivative of your brain. The technology you use to offer your services on the market are tools, and should never be seen as anything more. It is your discipline and focus which will determine your success or failure.